Joshua 10

When the human soul has joined itself to the Word of God, it ought not to doubt that it will at once have enemies, and that those whom it had before as friends are to be turned into adversaries; and let it expect to suffer this not only from men, but let it know for certain that this also threatens it from the contrary powers and the spiritual wickednesses. And so it comes about that whoever seeks the friendship of Jesus knows that he must endure the enmities of many. Hear the Apostle Paul confirming these same things, when he says: "all who wish to live godly in Christ suffer persecution." But Solomon too says similar things: "Son," he says, "coming to the service of the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation." Therefore even now the Gibeonites, of whatever sort they are, are assailed because of the friendship of Jesus, and although they be "hewers of wood and carriers of water" — that is, although you be of the lowest merit in the church — nevertheless, by this very fact, because you belong to Jesus, you will be assailed by the five kings. But yet the Gibeonites are neither abandoned nor scorned by Jesus, nor by the leaders and elders of the Israelites, but they bring aid to their weakness. Or does it not seem to you that this very thing is at work in us, and that this is what that command of the Apostle enjoins, in which he says: "comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all," and again: "but you who are more powerful, bear the infirmities of the weak"? In this manner, then, Jesus with his leaders and princes is present to those who for his name's sake are assailed by the contrary powers, and not only furnishes aid in the war, but also prolongs the time of the day and, extending the spans of light, drives off the coming of night.

But perhaps renown in war keeps some so bound to itself as to make them think that fortitude is to be found in battle alone and that therefore I had gone aside to speak of these things, because that was lacking in us. But how brave was Joshua the son of Nun, who in one battle laid low five kings together with their people! Again, when he fought against the Gibeonites and feared that night might stop him from gaining the victory, he called out with deep faith and high spirit: "Let the sun stand still"; and it stood still until the victory was complete.

Everywhere, therefore, he alone kept close to holy Moses amid all these wondrous works and dread secrets. In this way it happened that the one who had been Moses' companion in this intercourse with God succeeded to his power. Worthy surely was he to stand forth as a man who might stay the course of the river, and who might say, "Sun, stand still," and delay the night and lengthen the day, as though to witness his victory. Why?—a blessing denied to Moses—he alone was chosen to lead the people into the promised land. A man he was, great in the wonders he wrought by faith, great in his triumphs. The works of Moses were of a higher type, his brought greater success. Either of these then aided by divine grace rose above all human standing. The one ruled the sea, the other heaven.

Let no one tell me, therefore, that the motions of the heavenly bodies constitute time. For when the sun stood still at the prayer of a certain man in order that he might gain his victory in battle, the sun stood still but time went on. For in as long a span of time as was sufficient the battle was fought and ended.I see, then, that time is a certain kind of extension.

Actually, as we have recorded in our Scriptures, the sun itself stood still when the holy man, Joshua the son of Nun, asked that favor of God, and it remained where it was until a battle, already begun, ended in victory.… Such are the miracles which God grants as favors to his saints; although our adversaries would attribute them—if they believed them—to the arts of magic.…In regard, then, to human knowledge of the natures of things, the unbelievers have no right to becloud the issue by their assumption that nothing, even by the power of God, can happen to a nature beyond what is known already by human experience. And remember, too, that there are qualities and powers in the natures of the commonest things that are nothing less than stupendous and would, in fact, be reckoned portents by anyone who examined them, except that humans have accustomed themselves to have no wonder to spare save for things that are unusual.

"God made the two great lights, the smaller light to rule the night," that is, the Old Testament, "and the greater one to rule the day," that is, the New Testament. As the moon receives its light from the sun, so does the Old Testament from the New. And so when the sun stands in the east, and the moon on the opposite side in the west — "Stand still, O sun, at Gabaon, O moon, in the valley of Aialon!" said Josue — then is the Old Testament lighted up: it cannot shine, except by means of the New.

The idea of liberty has ultimately a religious root; that is why men find it so easy to die for and so difficult to define. It refers finally to the fact that, while the oyster and the palm tree have to save their lives by law, man has to save his soul by choice. Ruskin rebuked Coleridge for praising freedom, and said that no man would wish the sun to be free. It seems enough to answer that no man would wish to be the sun. Speaking as a Liberal, I have much more sympathy with the idea of Joshua stopping the sun in heaven than with the idea of Ruskin trotting his daily round in imitation of its regularity. Joshua was a Radical, and his astronomical act was distinctly revolutionary. For all revolution is the mastering of matter by the spirit of man, the emergence of that human authority within us which, in the noble words of Sir Thomas Browne, "owes no homage unto the sun."

Consider how great of value is the righteous man. Joshua the son of Nun said, "Let the sun stand still at Gibeon, the moon at the valley of Elom [Aijalon]," and it was so. Let then the whole world come, or rather two or three, or four, or ten, or twenty worlds, and let them say and do this; yet they shall not be able. But the friend of God commanded the creatures of his friend, or rather he besought his friend, and the servants yielded, and the one below gave command to those above. Do you see that these things are fulfilling their appointed course for service?

We wish therefore, if we can, to show how our Lord Jesus prolonged the light and made the day longer, whether for the salvation of men or for the destruction of the contrary powers. From the time when the Savior came, it was already the end of the world. Indeed he himself used to say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." But he held back and repressed the day of consummation and forbade it to be present. For God the Father, seeing that the salvation of the nations could be established through him alone, says to him: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and for your possession the ends of the earth." Therefore, until the fatherly promise is fulfilled and the churches grow out of the various nations and the whole "fullness of the nations" enters in, so that then at last "all Israel may be saved," the day is prolonged and the setting is deferred, and the sun never sinks but always rises, while the "sun of righteousness" pours the light of truth into the hearts of believers. But when the measure of believers has been filled up, and the worse and more discolored age of the last generation has come, when "as iniquity increases the love of many will grow cold" and very few will remain in whom faith may be found, then at last "the days will be shortened." The same Lord himself therefore knows both how to extend the day, when it is the time of salvation, and to shorten the day, when it is the time of tribulation and perdition. We, however, while we have the day and the span of light is prolonged for us, "let us walk honorably as in the day" and work the works of light.

Moses did not say: "Let the sun stand still," nor did he command the greatest elements, as Jesus did. "Let the sun stand still," he says, "over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon," and moreover the Scripture adds and says that: "Never did God so hear a man." Therefore my Jesus made "the sun stand still" not only then, but much more so now in his coming. While we wage war against our enemies and "wrestle against principalities and powers and the rulers of these darknesses, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places," the "sun of righteousness" stands by us unceasingly and never forsakes us nor hastens to set, because he himself said: "Behold, I am with you all the days." Not only with a doubled day is he with us, but he is with us "all the days" "until the consummation of the age," until we too prevail over our adversaries.

For those who join themselves to the children of Israel, all those who before were friends, after the friendship and intimacy with the children of Israel become enemies. The Gibeonites, who had received a covenant of peace from the children of Israel, the Jebusite king of Jerusalem — having invited four other kings along with himself — attacks in order to overpower. But the Gibeonites, seeing that five kings had conspired against them for battle, put no confidence whatever in their own strength and forces, but "send to Jesus" begging for help. And he, by divine permission, is present with the Gibeonites to bring them aid. Here now marvels are displayed from heaven. The Lord rains down stones of hail from above and lays waste the army of the five kings who were fighting against Jesus. But then Jesus, seeing the divine right hand doing battle alongside him and all things proceeding with prosperous success, lifts up to heaven a certain new and wondrous prayer, saying: "Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon, until I overpower this people. And the sun and the moon stood still in their place, until the Lord utterly vanquished their enemies. And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not advance toward its setting for the space of one whole day. There was no day like this before this, nor did God so hearken to a man, because the Lord fought for Israel. And those five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave in Makkedah." These miracles of divine power, wrought indeed according to the history, proclaim themselves to all the ages and need no interpretation from outside, in which the light of the deeds flashes forth. Yet let us inquire what spiritual understanding these things may contain.

Thus also with power did Joshua, the son of Nun, command the sun and the moon, and they were restrained, and each of them stood still in its course. Joshua stretched out his hand and spake with the power of faith, saying, "Thou sun, tarry in Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon;" and the sun was restrained, and the moon stood until the people had taken vengeance upon its enemies.

What we say is that God not only stands outside the power of all necessity; he is its Lord and Maker. For in that he is authority and the very source whence authority flows, he himself does nothing through any necessity of nature or at the bidding of any inviolable law. On the contrary, all things are possible to him, including those we call impossible. To prove this, he established once for all the courses of the sun and moon, which are borne on their way by inevitable laws, and forever and ever will be thus borne, and at the same time to prove that nothing is to him inevitable but that all things are possible that he may choose, just once he made a special "day" that Scripture sets forth as a "sign," solely that he might the more proclaim, and in no way invalidate, that divine ordinance with which, from the beginning, he fixed the undeviating orbits of the stars.

For if the armed host of the Lord was represented by the trumpets of the priests, we may see in Jericho a type of the overthrow of the world by the preaching of the gospel. And to pass over endless details (for it is not my purpose now to unfold all the mysteries of the Old Testament), five kings who previously reigned in the land of promise and opposed the gospel army were overcome in battle with Joshua. I think it is clearly to be understood that before the Lord led his people from Egypt and circumcised them, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch had the dominion, and that to these, as to five princes, everything was subject. And when they took refuge in the cave of the body and in a place of darkness, Jesus entered the body itself and killed them, that the source of their power might be the instrument of their death.

But let us also see what this is, that it says there were five kings and that these "fled into the caves." We have often said that the warfare of Christians is twofold. For the perfect, and such as Paul was and the Ephesians, as the Apostle himself says, "there was for them no warfare against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and the spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places." But for the lower and not-yet-perfect the warfare is still waged "against flesh and blood," for those who are still assailed by carnal vices and frailties. Which I think is indicated also in this passage; for we said that war was declared against the Gibeonites by the five kings, whose figure I said is in those who are imperfect. These therefore are assailed by the five kings. And the five kings signify the five bodily senses — sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell; for through some one of these each person must needs fall into sin. These five senses are compared to those five kings who overpower the Gibeonites, that is, who overpower carnal men. And that they are said to have "fled into the caves," this can perhaps be indicated because a cave is a place dug down into the depth of the earth. Therefore these senses too, of which we spoke above, when, placed in the body, they have plunged themselves into earthly acts and have done nothing for the work of God but everything for the service of the body, are said to have "fled into the caves."

Yet it must be known that these very kingdoms, whose kings are now conquered by Jesus and "flee to the caves," afterward come into the lot of the saints and are called the Lord's portion, as the kingdom of Jerusalem, or of Lachish, or of Hebron. In which I think this is indicated, that even these five senses, which we expounded above, placed in the body, when they have been vanquished through Jesus — so that unfaithfulness and unbelief may be driven out from them, and when the sins die in this, that they cease from the service of sin — the soul afterward uses these very same as ministers for working the righteousness of God; and so it comes about that in Jerusalem, in which a wicked and most evil king reigned before, afterward David mighty in hand, or peaceable Solomon, reigns in it. For upon these very bodily senses of men, of which we spoke, there also sit malign powers, which incite them to evil desires and to furnishing foul services to the soul. And if the faith of Christ has overcome these malign powers, and they have been hung up "on the wood of his cross," so that he may "triumph over them on the wood of his cross," these being slain and driven from their kingdom, then the soul is made into God's portion, then Jerusalem is made the kingdom of God and a temple is built in it to the Lord. Or did not that man perceive this about himself, who said that: "we too were once senseless, unbelieving, going astray, serving desires and various pleasures"? For it is nothing other than this, that Jerusalem is written to have been once under king Adonibezek, or other cities under others.

If those things which were foreshadowed through Moses concerning the tabernacle or the sacrifices and all that worship are said to be "a type and a shadow of heavenly things," without doubt the wars too which are waged through Jesus, and the slaughter of kings and enemies, must be said to be "a shadow and type of heavenly things" — of those wars, that is, which our Lord Jesus wages with his army and its officers, that is, with the peoples of believers and their leaders, against the devil and his angels. For it is he himself who, in Paul and in the Ephesians, fights "against the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And see, ungrateful heretic, how completely the new agrees with the old. To the men of old was promised the kingdom of a holy land, "a land flowing with milk and honey," which land was then held by sinners and by most wicked inhabitants and kings. Jesus came into that land with the army of the Lord and the leaders of Israel; he storms them all, destroys them, takes possession, and by the merit of his victory receives the kingdoms of those whom he conquered. To you, through the Gospels, are promised not the kingdoms of earth, but there are promised "the kingdoms of heaven." But these kingdoms are not empty nor void; they have their own inhabitants, sinners and wicked spirits, apostate angels. There dwell those against whom Paul, sounding forth with the apostolic trumpet, exhorts you to battle; and, just as Jesus there was saying that you would have war against "the Amorites and Perizzites and Hivites and Jebusites," so likewise here too Paul announces to you, saying: "your struggle will not be against flesh and blood" — that is, we shall not fight as the ancients fought, nor are battles to be waged by us on earth against men — "but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Now indeed you understand in what places contests of this kind are to be stirred up by you. Or if understanding does not suffice for you unless the very places also be marked out for you with a plain word, hear what follows: "against the spiritual forces," he says, "of wickedness in the heavenly places." You have heard who they are who must be driven out by you from the heavenly places by war and force, that you may be able to receive those places of the kingdom of heaven by the lot of inheritance. But does not the Lord too in the Gospel plainly indicate these things, when he says: "from the days of John the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it"?

Why then do you cease, O heretic, to bring your slander even against our Lord and Savior, who commands that "the kingdom of heaven," which he had promised to those who believe in him, "be seized by violence"? And surely, if violence is to be applied, it is certain that it must be applied to those who are in possession. For "to do violence" is this: to expel the possessor and to seize his possession. Tell me, then, what else is it that you accuse Jesus the successor of Moses of having done? And would that we were worthy for the Lord Jesus to open to us the hall of his wisdom and to lead us within the treasures of his knowledge, and to deign to unlock more fully for us and to open more perfectly those things which now, step by step, we strive as though "through a mirror and in a riddle" to behold in part and to inspect their figures; you would see how it would become clear to us of which especially of these spiritual enemies — of those who now assail the spiritual Israel — that king of "Makkedah" bore the figure, and that one of "Lachish," and that one of "Libnah"; or of what vice or error within your own self, by which the soul is entangled, each single one of these bears the form, whom the people of the Lord, with Jesus as their leader, slew — those, namely, who hear his commandments and keep his precepts, to whom he himself "has granted the power of treading upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy." Let us pray, therefore, that our feet too may be such, so beautiful, so strong, as to be able to "tread" upon the necks of enemies, able so to "tread upon the head of the serpent" that it cannot bite our heel. For whoever fights under Jesus as leader against the opposing powers ought also to merit that which is written of the former warriors: "and there returned," it says, "the whole people to Jesus safe and sound, and not one of the children of Israel murmured a word in his tongue." You see, then, that whoever serves as a soldier under Jesus ought to "return safe and sound" from the battle, and ought nowhere to receive a wound from "the fiery darts of the evil one," to be defiled in no way in his heart, stained in no way in his thought, and to give no place to demonic wounds through anger, through lust, or through any other occasion whatsoever. But that he added, "no one murmured a word in his tongue," this seems to me to be shown thereby: that no one boasted of the victory, no one ascribed to his own strength the fact that he overcame; but knowing that it is Jesus who grants the victory, they themselves "murmur not a word in their tongue." Rightly understanding this, the Apostle would say: "yet not I, but the grace of God which is in me." And I think that this saying of the Lord also looks to the same point, where he says: "but when you have done all these things, say that we are unprofitable servants; what we ought to have done, we have done." For in this too, in like manner, he seems to forbid boasting about affairs prosperously accomplished.

But meanwhile Jesus slew the enemies, not teaching cruelty thereby, as the heretics suppose, but designating in the things that are done the mysteries that are to come, so that, when he has slain those kings who hold the kingdom of sin in us, we may be able to fulfill that which the Apostle said: "as we presented our members to serve iniquity unto iniquity, so now let us present our members to serve righteousness unto sanctification." What then is it that in this passage is faulted by them as if cruel? This, he says, which is written: "put your feet upon their neck, and slay them." What of it? For this is found to be not cruelty, but humanity and kindness. Would that you too were such a one, who would "put your feet upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy," and would "trample the dragon and the basilisk," the little king who once reigned in you and held in you the kingdom of sin, so that, all those being slain who reigned in you by the work of sin, Christ Jesus our Lord alone may reign in you, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."

But Marcion and Valentinus and Basilides and the rest of the heretics with them, while they refuse to understand these things as is worthy of the Holy Spirit, "have turned aside from the faith and entangled themselves in many impieties," putting forward another God as creator and judge of the law and of the world, as though through these things which are written he were teaching a certain cruelty, in that men are commanded to "tread upon the necks" of enemies and to "hang upon a tree" the kings of that land which they violently invade. And would that my Lord Jesus, the Son of God, might grant me this and command me to "trample" with my feet "the spirit of fornication," and to "tread upon" the necks of the spirit of wrath and fury, to "tread upon" the demon of avarice, to "tread upon" boastfulness, to crush with my feet the spirit of pride, and, when I have done these things, to hang the sum of the work accomplished not upon myself, but upon his cross, following Paul who says that through him "the world has been crucified to me," and that which we have already recalled above, where he says: "yet not I, but the grace of God which is in me." But if I shall have merited to do so, I shall be blessed, and there shall be said to me too what Jesus says to the men of old: "act manfully and be strengthened, fear not nor be afraid before their face, for the Lord God has delivered all your enemies into your hands." If we understand these things spiritually and wage wars of this kind spiritually, and drive out all those "spiritual forces of wickedness from the heavenly places," then at last we shall be able to receive from Jesus even their places and kingdoms, which are "the kingdoms of heaven," by the lot of inheritance — our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ granting it, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!"

But also concerning the interpretations of the names themselves, if we examine more carefully and diligently, the significance of the names will be found capable of being applied now to the understanding of the evil kingdom, now also to the understanding of the good. For instance, Libnah is interpreted as "whiteness." But whiteness is understood in diverse ways; for there is the whiteness of leprosy, and there is also the whiteness of light. It is possible, therefore, even by the interpretation of the name itself to indicate the differences of the two conditions: so that Libnah had the whiteness of leprosy under the evil kings, and this having been destroyed and overthrown, when Libnah came into the kingdom of Israel, it received the whiteness of light — because whiteness is set down in the Scriptures both as praiseworthy and as blameworthy.

And again, Lachish is interpreted as "a way" (or journey). But a way is regarded in the Scriptures both as praiseworthy and as blameworthy. This is not difficult to prove, as it says in the Psalms: "and the way of the ungodly shall perish"; and elsewhere on the contrary: "make straight ways for your feet." It can therefore be understood also here that the city of Lachish was first "the way of the ungodly"; and this having been destroyed and overthrown, afterward, when the Israelites reigned, it was brought "to the straight way."

And similarly also Hebron, which they say is interpreted as "conjunction" or "marriage." But the conjunction of our soul was first with an evil man and a most wicked husband, the devil; and he having been destroyed and extinguished, the soul "was freed from the law" of the former and most wicked husband and was joined to a good and lawful husband, that one of whom the Apostle Paul says: "I have determined to present you as a chaste virgin to one husband, to Christ." Thus, therefore, even the understanding of the names themselves accords with this twofold condition of each city.

"All these things happened to them figuratively, and they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" — when the man who "is a Jew outwardly" and who has "circumcision made manifest in the flesh" reads this, not knowing what it is to be "inwardly a Jew in the circumcision of the heart," he thinks it to be nothing else than wars described, and the destruction of enemies, and the Israelites conquering under Jesus as their leader and plundering the kingdoms of the nations. But the one who is "a Jew inwardly," that is, the Christian, who follows Jesus not so much as the son of Nave but as the Son of God, understands all these things to be mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and says that even now my Lord Jesus Christ wages war against the opposing powers and casts them out of the cities which they possessed — that is, out of our souls — and kills the kings who reigned in our souls, "that sin may no longer reign in us," so that, after he has slain the king of sin out of the city of our soul, our soul may become the city of God and God may reign in it, and it may be said to us that "behold, the kingdom of God is within you." This work, therefore, which the heretics accuse of cruelty, is a work of the highest mercy — that the Lord Jesus should now in truth accomplish through each and every soul of believers what was first foreshadowed by the son of Nave through each and every city: so that those cities which were possessed by evil and utterly wicked kings "according to the prince of the power of the air of this world, the spirit that now works in the children of unbelief" — these having been expelled and slain — he may deign to make them "the dwelling place of God" and "the temple of the Holy Spirit," so that "the members which had served" under the wicked king "iniquity unto uncleanness may now serve righteousness unto sanctification." Thus, therefore, understand that Jesus slew the king of Jericho and the king of Ai and the king of Libnah and the king of Lachish and the king of Hebron, so that all these cities, which before under the most wicked kings observed the law of sin, may now conduct themselves under the laws of God.

I think that in this way it is better to understand the Israelite wars, and that in this way Jesus is better thought to do battle and to destroy cities and overthrow kingdoms. For thus also that saying will appear more religious and more merciful, which says that he so overthrew and laid waste each and every city "that nothing was left in them that breathed, nor anyone who was saved, nor anyone who escaped." For would that the Lord might so cast out and extinguish all former evils from the souls that believe in him and that he claims for his kingdom, and from my own soul, that no sense of malice in me may any longer "breathe," that no affection of anger, no affection of any evil desire may be saved in me, that no evil word may remain that "escapes" from my mouth. For thus, with Jesus as my leader, purged from all former evils, I shall be able to be made among the cities of the children of Israel, of which it is written: "the cities of Judah shall be built and they shall dwell in them." For indeed even now Jesus destroys and "builds" the soul of each one of us; and just as we were saying then, when we were discussing Jeremiah, that he had received "words in" his "mouth," by which he might "overthrow" and "build," "root out" and "plant," so also now in these things which we have in hand I think it is to be understood — not according to the heretics or according to the Jews; but as it was there said to Jeremiah: "behold, I have set you this day over the nations and the kingdoms, to root out and to overthrow and to bring to destruction, and after these things to build and to plant" — so also concerning these things which are written as done through Jesus it is to be believed, or rather concerning these things which through our Lord Jesus are even now being done in us. For the first work of the Word of God is to root out the preceding evils, the "thorns and thistles" of the vices. For while these roots hold the seized earth in their grip, it cannot receive the good and holy seeds.

Necessary, therefore, and first is this work of the Word of God, to "root out" the plants of sin and to "pluck up every plant which the heavenly Father has not planted" and to consume it with fire. Now the second work is to "plant." What is it that God "plants"? Moses says that "God planted a paradise." But even now "God plants" and daily "plants" in the souls of believers. For in the soul from which he has cut out anger, he "plants" gentleness, and from which he has cut out pride, he "plants" humility; from which he roots out wantonness, he "plants" chastity; from which he uproots ignorance, he implants knowledge. Does not such a planting, which "God plants," seem to you to ought to be greater than that of insensible and earthly trees? Likewise, in the first place, it is the work of the Word of God to destroy the diabolical buildings which it has constructed in the human soul. For that one built up towers of pride in each one of us and walls of haughtiness; these the word of God overthrows and undermines, so that deservedly, according to the Apostle, we may become "God's tillage and God's building, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole framework of the building grows into a temple of God in the Spirit," and so at last we may deserve to be made in the inheritance of the holy land in the Israelite portion, with all our enemies extinguished and slain, so that "there is not left of them any that breathes in us," but the Spirit of Christ alone may breathe in us, through works and words and spiritual understanding, according to the teaching of Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is power and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!